Hamburg Instrumental Competition

Every year, over 250 children and young people aged between 6 and 20 take part in the prestigious Hamburg Instrumental Competition. This event was held for the first time in the 1950s which makes it a decade older than the famous youth competition "Jugend musiziert" – and one of the most significant forums in the city of Hamburg for the presentation of promising new talent in classical music.

Hamburg composer and conductor Prof. Walter Gehlert shaped and nurtured the Hamburg Instrumental Competition for many years. 2013 he passed the directorship into the capable hands of the two violinists of quartet Salut Salon, Angelika Bachmann and Iris Siegfried. The competition has enjoyed long-standing sponsorship by renowned Hamburg company Pianohaus Trübger and by the foundation Oscar- und Vera-Ritter-Stiftung, which also awarded Angelika Bachmann a grant for many years.

Angelika Bachmann has a special connection with the Hamburg Instrumental Competition: at the tender age of fourteen she competed herself and since 1983 has played every year at the big children’s concert “Konzert der Kinder”, an event that Walter Gehlert had established for her and which is held at Hamburg’s famous concert hall, the Laeiszhalle.

As of 2014 the foundation Haspa Musik Stiftung is the main sponsor of the Hamburg Instrumental Competition and the children’s concert Konzert der Kinder. Dr. Harald Vogelsang, Chairman of the foundation board, had this to say: “I am delighted that we will be supporting the Hamburg Instrumental Competition as of this year. Fostering musical talent among children and young people is an issue particularly close to our hearts and the competition and concert that have been admirable examples of this for many years.” Angelika Bachmann is also delighted that the competition is cooperating with the Haspa Musik Stiftung: “We are a perfect match because we share one goal – to encourage and foster the musical talent and personal development of children and young people.”

What makes Konzert der Kinder such a unique concert event, is the mixture of virtuosic performances by young instrumentalists in front of an audience of 2000 people at the Laeiszhalle and the warm atmosphere – created by the multi-coloured grand piano, for instance, or mysterious flowers sagely growing at the edge of the stage. Prof. Walter Gehlert presented winners of the competition to a Hamburg audience for the first time in 1983. "It was Angelika Bachmann who inspired me to do this. She had taken part in the competition since she was four years old and had always won first prize. I thought such a gifted child should have the opportunity to perform solo in front of a large audience,” recalls Prof. Gehlert. Since then, some 2,500 young instrumentalists have enjoyed the opportunity of gathering important performance experience at the annual children’s concert.

The next children’s concert will be held in the large auditorium of the concert hall Laeiszhalle on Saturday, 16th of February, 2019 (4 pm). Tickets are on sale at www.eventim.de and at all other advance ticket sales outlets in Hamburg.